New car battery for honda civic

So true. I was given a list of warnings at my MOT last year including a leaking something or other that would cost £650 plus VAT to fix, but wasn’t urgent or dangerous yet. So this year I went for the MOT and none of these so called problems came up - this is at the dealer’s own service centre. The car also had to be serviced again because theirs was shoddy. I took the car back as the engine sounded rough and they said it was a loose filter. I queried this “leak” they had mentioned the year before and they said oh that isn’t a big deal so that’s why it’s not on the list. Yet last year they were encouraging me to not leave the £650 work on it too long!

I’m still not sure which was right and which wrong, but I had another service recently at a different garage and they did “checks” with apparently no faults.

Same here. Some people might call it cartel-like structures. Before I’d pay £650 I’d take the car to another garage. Even the MOT guys have different views on what is relevant and what’s not.

Most so called faults are the personal view of the vehicle through the eyes of the examiner/mechanic AND of course how much work they have on the books.
As someone who likes to see a good honest buissness being completely fair with its customers, I’m embarrassed by how many shonky garages there are out on the high street.

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@AnnieS What model. mileage and year is your Ford and can you describe its rough running and when this happens? Obviously, I really need to have it in front of me, but good descriptions often point to fault(s) that are often easy to fix.
I became involved with a VW not long ago that after all the diagnostics and opinions, I came up with the actual fault . . a very slight leak from the head gasket that allowed an occasional drip of coolant to foul that cylinder’s spark plug. It was an old car and an £8 bottle of RadWeld fixed the problem for a very happy cutomer.

I bought some Bosch wipers for my last car from Halfords, I couldn’t believe how quiet and efficient they were. Always Bosch wipers for me in the future.

When I was an apprentice mechanical engineer I did a day release course at the local college, at seventeen I think I was the only lad who had worked on virtually every machine in the factory (A family run engineering works and you had to earn your corn) unlike most of the students who had spent most of their time in a training school.
I think the principle took a shine to me and used to call me out of the class to skim cylinder heads down and make other parts for vehicles. I must have done hundreds of heads in my five years at the college…

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Hi LD it’s a 2015 fiesta. Just under 19k on the clock as it’s used mostly as a shopping and social runaround. It’s a lovely all-round car and it’s such a shame they have just gone out of production. Very good value for your money. The rough running tends to be on shorter, journeys when in traffic. I would expect it to purr after two services but that’s not the case. I’d have to check the documents to see where the (apparently unimportant) leak is coming from as perhaps that’s contaminating something as was the case in your example. I tend to keep cars for many years and this version of the model is really comfortable and has an impressive interior. My last fiesta was 13 when I finally let go. But the 2015 models have a much better engine and robust frame. It’s amazing how attached we can become to our cars!

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Without being able to plug my diagnostic code reader in, I can only speculate, but in general those Eco Boost Engins do tend to ‘suffer’ from only running for short journeys and lowish speeds and loads. If you have a 70mph dual carriageway not too far away from you, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a run at 70 for around 1/2hr to blow any build up away from the cylinder head valves.
Also that ‘slight’ leak could be from somewhere in the vacumn system and that would give intermittent running at anytime especially when the engine is hot.
If you have not owned it from new, a look through its MOT history on the governnment web site might also give a clue. Follow that link through to the MOT and then read the results. It’s my favourite go-to for a cars recorded history.
Check if a vehicle is taxed - GOV.UK

EDIT Also the newer irridum spark plugs give a better spark compared to the standard type and usually smoother running a lower speeds.
NGK Spark Plug - SILZNAR8C7H - fits Ford Fiesta, Focus 1.0 EcoBoost - 93593 x3 | eBay

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This is the result of my MOT in 2023 - I think the issue is the third on the list

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

  • Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin (1.1.13 (a) (ii))
  • Nearside Front Shock absorbers has light misting of oil (5.3.2 (b))
  • Offside Front Hydraulic leak, but not excessive Drive shaft seals (8.4.1 (a) (i))

No warnings this year. I’m sure I can feel a slight rumble under the wheel. I thought it might be the wheel bearings, but the steering wheel isn’t shaking enough for that.

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None of those advisories would cause the engine to run rough intermittently, but a slight leak in the vacuum system could have that effect. Without the car under my right foot, that is the only possible fault I can offer. It could even be an electronic fault or a loose connection somewhere, or even an iffy fuel injector🤷‍♂️

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Even down to a loose shoe on the foot :rofl:

There is at least one coal mine in my area that uses the waste gas from the mine to produce electricity, via gas fired boilers, for the mine itself. The local seams are all underground mines.

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A very good scheme, BUT our green woke brigade would hate that as the burnt gas is full of carbon dioxide. Here in the UK we are supposed to be heading for zero or at the very least, carbon neutral.

Forgive my ignorance but…
If Methane is 28 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than CO2 and methane is lighter than air, so upon it’s release it migrates into the upper atmosphere and stays there for 8 years, opposed to CO2 which is heavier than air so only remains in the atmosphere for a short length of time…
Why don’t we burn the methane ? Which then turns methane into water and the less harmful climate gas CO2?
Lesser of two evils and we get to use a sustainable source of heat and energy…Win Win…
:grin:
Quote:-
METHANE AS A GREENHOUSE GAS
Methane is a very effective greenhouse gas. While its atmospheric
concentration is much less than that of carbon dioxide, methane is 28 times
more effective (averaged over 100 years) at trapping infrared radiation. The
atmospheric residence time of methane is approximately 9 years. Residence
time is the average time it takes for a molecule to be removed from the
atmosphere. In this case, every molecule of methane that goes into the
atmosphere remains there for 8 years until it is removed by oxidization into
carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). It is difficult to quantify methane
emissions since sources are spread out over large areas and emission values
are small and variable in time and space.

The natural gas we already use is made up of mainly methane. Could we tie little bags to the bottoms of cows to stop methane leakage?

Harvesting the methane leakage which causes our biggest problems would be impossible.

What they should do is compensate Brazil and other countries to sustainably grow palm oil and soy to prevent destruction of the rainforests. We shouldn’t use palm oil or soy that is not from a sustainable source. Palm oil itself is not the problem, the way it is grown is.

According to the diagram…

29% of manmade Methane emissions come from waste management and 40% from energy sources Annie, that makes almost 70% of emissions, agricultural sources only produce 32%
Therefore, harnessing waste management sources like water treatment plants (which is already being done) and energy production, which should be a simple matter, the savings in man made emissions would be tremendous. We could leave the cows alone, and considering farm animals make up the greater part of our diets, aren’t they doing their bit already?
And even despite this, the natural production of methane still makes up 40% of the total emissions…
Perhaps humans could also do their bit by not using so much wood?
Consider the amount of wood in your house…Consider the amount of wood in everyone’s house…That’s an awful lot of trees…

I can’t see how harnessing methane from waste emissions or fossil fuels it would ever be a commercially-viable, cost-effective fuel solution. Has any country managed this at a price that the population can afford?

In terms of wood, it’s the type of tree planted that makes the difference. Planting of conifers is bad and planting broad leaved trees is good. So using certain types of wood in the house in the short term while these are gradually replaced by planting more broad leaved forests would help.

Wooden furniture lasts for decades, even centuries. It’s the constant replacement of quality wooden furniture with changes in fads and fashions that is the problem.